Kint wear knitting method

ABSTRACT

A method of knitting knitwear comprises the joining knit step comprising the step that whenever an adequate number of courses of the front body  3   a  and the back body  3   b  are knitted by using different yarn feeders, both right and left sleeves  5, 7  are shifted to the body side and joined together; and the step that when the front body  3   a  and the back body  3   b  are knitted by different feed yarns, respectively, and the yarn is fed to either of the right and left sleeves  5, 7  to form stitches in the next course, split knit is provided for stitches of the front sleeves  5   a   , 7   a  and back sleeves  5   b   , 7   b  at side ends thereof on the body side and then the stitches formed by the split knit are laid over the stitches of the different courses in the bodies  3   a   , 3   b , respectively, to join together the sleeves  5, 7  and the body  3.  In this joining knit, whenever a predetermined number of courses of the body  3  is knitted, the sleeves  5, 7  are shifted to the body  3  to allow the stitches of the last course of the sleeves  5, 7  to be laid over the stitches of the body  3,  and as such can produce knitwear  1  having a good-looking joining line at any selective sleeve attaching angle.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of knitting knitwearwhose sleeves and body are joined by using a flat knitting machine.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] The knitting method of joining together knitted fabrics knittedin different regions on the flat knitting machine in the course of theknitting process can eliminate or simplify the tail end sewing process.The application of this knitting method to the knitting of sweater andthe like enables the knitting of knitwear which is called a non-sewingknitted fabric.

[0003] When sweater is knitted in the form of the non-sewing knittedfabric, the front and back bodies are knitted into a tubular bodycontinuously joined at each end thereof. In parallel with this, theright and left sleeves situated at each side of the body are eachknitted into a tubular form and shifted to the body side, so that thesleeves and the body are overlapped and joined together in a joiningregion extending from the underarm to the shoulder.

[0004] The sleeves and the body are joined together to have a properangle θ formed by the sleeve and the body joined together (hereinafterit is referred to as “the sleeve attaching angle”). This sleeveattaching angle θ can be adjusted by changing a course number ratiobetween the sleeve and the body after the start of knitting of joiningtogether the sleeve and the body. With reference to FIGS. 12A and 12B,the knitting method of adjusting the sleeve attaching angle θ will bedescribed. FIG. 12A shows the knitting sequence for the process ofjoining together the sleeves and the body. FIG. 12B shows sweater 101whose sleeves and body are joined together in accordance with theknitting sequence of FIG. 12A. The line W-W represents the boundarybetween a front fabric comprising a right front sleeve 105 a, a frontbody 103 and a left front sleeve 107 a and a back fabric comprising aright back sleeve 105 b, a back body 103 b and a left back sleeve 107 b.

[0005] In the knitting method of FIG. 12, a single yarn feeder is usedfor knitting both of the front fabric and the back fabric. In the course111, after the yarn is continuously fed to the right front sleeve 105 aand the front body 103 a, the right front sleeve 105 a and the leftfront sleeve 107 a are shifted to the body, respectively, to be joinedto the front body. Sequentially, in the courses 113-117, the knittingthat whenever the front fabric is knitted in one course, the right frontsleeve 105 a and the left front sleeve 107 a are shifted to and joinedto the front body 103 a is repeated five times. In the course 119, afterthe front body 103 a and the left front sleeve 107 a are continuouslyknitted, the right front sleeve 105 a and the left front sleeve 107 aare shifted to the front body 103 a, so that the sleeves and the frontbody are joined together. Then, the knitting goes on to the knitting ofthe back fabric. In the course 121, after the left back sleeve 107 b andthe back body 103 b are continuously knitted, the right back sleeve 105b and the left back sleeve 107 b are shifted to the body, respectively,to be joined to the back body. Sequentially, in the courses 123-127, theknitting that whenever the back fabric is knitted in one course, theright back sleeve 105 b and the left back sleeve 107 b are shifted toand joined to the back body 103 b is repeated five times. In the course129, after the back body 103 b and the right back sleeve 105 b arecontinuously knitted, the right back sleeve 105 b and the left backsleeve 107 b are shifted to the body, so that the sleeves and the backbody are joined together. The sleeve attaching angle θ varies dependingon the course number ratio of the sleeve to the body after the start ofthe joining knit to join together the sleeve and the body. As the coursenumber ratio of the body to the sleeve is increased, the sleeveattaching angle θ increases and comes nearer to a right angle. On theother hand, as the course number ratio of the body is reduced, thesleeve attaching angle θ reduces and comes nearer to a parallel with thebody.

[0006] In the knitting method mentioned above, in the courses 113-117and 123-127, the knitting of the sleeves 105, 107 is suspended and theknitting to join either of the front and back bodies and the sleeves iscontinuously performed. During this course knitting, only either of thefront knitted fabric and the back knitted fabric is reduced in knittingwidth. When this knitting wherein the knitting of the sleeves issuspended and the joining knit to continuously join the sleeves and thebody of either of the front knitted fabric and the back knitted fabricis repeated five consecutive times, as shown in FIG. 12, the stitches onthe edge of the front knitted fabric and the stitches on the edge of theback knitted fabric will be moved away from each other by five stitches.This may cause the problems of causing yarn rupture in the yarnextending between the stitch on the edge of the front knitted fabric andthe stitch on the edge of the back knitted fabric, thus interrupting theknitting operation and of generating in the knitwear an undesirableknitted line to significantly spoil the commercial value of the product.If the sleeves are not knitted but are shifted to and joined to the bodyrepeatedly, in order to bring the sleeve attaching angle θ closer toright angle, then the same stitch will be transferred over and overagain by the time the knitting of the sleeves suspended is restarted. Asa result of this, the stitch laid over the stitch of the body is strungout. This may cause an undesirable hole in the joining line 109 a, 109 balong which the sleeves and the body are joined together, to give adirty-looking to the joining line, or may cause yarn breakage.

[0007] Meanwhile, the applicant discloses in JP Laid-open (Unexamined)Patent Publication No. A-2000-256947 the knitting method using anelastic yarn for joining together the sleeves and the body. Thisknitting method comprises the step that while the sleeves and the bodyare both knitted, the sleeves are shifted to the body and joined to it;the step that the knitting of the body is suspended, during which theknitting of sleeve caps of the sleeves is continued in a flechageknitting, and then the last course of the sleeves is knitted by usingthe elastic yarn; and the step that the knitting of the body isrestarted, so that the sleeves and the body are joined together alongthe sleeve caps by transferring stitches whenever a predetermined numberof courses of the body are knitted. After these steps, the sleeves andthe body are joined together. In this knitting method, since the sleevecaps are knitted into a desired shape in the flechage knitting and sinceafter completion of this flechage knitting, the sleeves are joined tothe body along their sleeve caps without knitting the sleeve caps, theshape of the sleeves and the sleeve attaching angle can both be freelyset. In addition, since the last course of the sleeves is formed byusing the elastic yarn, even when the same stitch is transferredsequentially, there is little fear of causing yarn breakage or stringingout the stitches.

[0008] It is the object of the present invention to disclose a knitwearknitting method comprising the step that tubular sleeves are knitted ateach side of a tubular body; and the step that the sleeves are shiftedto and joined to the body in a joining region in which the sleeves andthe body are to be joined together, wherein the knitwear having agood-looking joining line along which the sleeves and the body arejoined together can be knitted at any selective sleeve attaching angle.It is another object of the present invention to disclose a knittingmethod of knitting knitwear that requires no special yarn, such as anelastic yarn, for joining together the sleeves and the body at a largesleeve attaching angle close to right angle.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0009] To solve the problems mentioned above, the present inventionprovides a method of knitting knitwear, comprising a body knitted into atubular fabric whose front body and back body are overlapped with eachother in front and back; and right and left sleeves situated at eachside of the body and each formed into a tubular fabric whose frontsleeve and back sleeve are overlapped with each other in front and back,by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of first andsecond needle beds each having a number of needles, which are placedopposite in front and back and at least either of which can be rackedlaterally; yarn feeders for feeding yarn to the needles of the firstneedle bed and second needle bed; and a cam unit, the method comprisingthe joining knit step that whenever a predetermined number of courses ofthe body is knitted in a joining region extending from an underarm to ashoulder, the sleeves are shifted to the body to allow the stitches ofthe last course of the sleeves to be laid over the stitches of the body,so as to join together the sleeves and the body,

[0010] the joining knit step comprising:

[0011] a) the step that whenever an adequate number of courses of thefront body and the back body are knitted by using different yarnfeeders, the right and left sleeves are shifted to the body side andjoined together; and

[0012] b) the step that when the front body and the back body areknitted by the different feed yarns, respectively, and the yarn is fedto either of the right and left sleeves to form stitches in the nextcourse, split knit is provided for stitches of the front sleeves andback sleeves at side ends thereof on the body side and then each of thesplit stitches are laid over the stitches of the different courses inthe bodies to join together the sleeves and the body.

[0013] According to the construction of the present invention, theknitting that the body and the right and left sleeves are each knittedinto a tubular form up to underarm; different yarn feeders are used forknitting the front body and the back body in the joining regionextending from the underarm to the shoulder; the yarn feeders arereversed in direction at each end of the body to perform the flechageknitting; and whenever an adequate number of courses of the body areknitted, the right and left sleeves are shifted to the body side so thefront sleeves and the front body can be overlapped with the back sleevesand the back body to be joined together is taken as unit of repeatedknitting operations. In the step 1, this unit of repeated knittingoperations is repeated to join together the sleeves and the body.Sequentially, the knitting that when the front body and the back bodyare knitted by using the different yarn feeders and the yarn is fed toeither of the right and left sleeves to form stitches of the next coursein the sleeves, the split knit is provided for the stitches of the frontand back sleeves at side ends thereof on the body side; one of a splitstitch and an added stitch provided by the split knit is laid over thestitch of the body to form the stitch of the next course in the body;and the other of the split stitch and the added stitch is laid over thestitch of the body to form the stitch of the next course in the body isalternately made for the right and left sleeves. This knitting is takenas unit of repeated knitting operations. In the step 2, this unit ofrepeated knitting operations is repeated to join together the sleevesand the body. Subsequently, the step 1 and the step 2 are repeatedlytaken in an alternate order to join together the sleeves and the body.

[0014] In the method of knitting knitwear of the present invention, acourse number ratio of the sleeve to the body after the start of thejoining knit of the sleeve and the body is set so that a course numberratio of the body can be higher than 1:4. This construction of thepresent invention can produce the knitwear having the sleeves joined tothe body at a large sleeve attaching angle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015]FIG. 1A shows sweater after the completion of joining of thesleeves and the body; and FIG. 1B shows sweater before the start ofjoining of the sleeves and the body. FIG. 2A shows the track of a yarnfeeder in the step 1; and FIG. 2B shows the track of the yarn feeder inthe step 2. FIG. 3 shows a knitting sequence. FIG. 4 is a knittingcourse diagram of the step 1. FIG. 5 is a knitting course diagram of thestep 1. FIG. 6 is a knitting course diagram of the step 2. FIG. 7 is aknitting course diagram of the step 2. FIG. 8 is a knitting coursediagram of the step 2. FIG. 9 is a knitting course diagram of the step2. FIG. 10 is a loop diagram in a joining region where a front body anda left front sleeve are joined together. FIG. 11A show anotherembodiment; and FIG. 11B shows still another embodiment. FIG. 12A showsa knitting sequence of a conventional knitting method; and FIG. 12Bshows a knitted fabric knitted in accordance with the knitting sequenceof FIG. 12A.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0016] A certain preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be notedthat the terms “right” and “left” in the right side and left side ofsweater 1 appearing in the following description are intended to meanthe right-hand part and the left-hand part of sweater 1 when viewingfrom the a wearer who wears the sweater. Also, in the course knittingdiagrams of FIGS. 4-9, the numerals at the left side indicate the serialnumber of the courses; the vertical arrows at right side thereofindicate the stitch transfer direction; and the horizontal arrowsindicate the knitting direction.

[0017] In the following, reference is made to knitwear knitted in theform of sweater having set-in sleeves of a plain knit structure knittedby using a two-bed flat knitting machine. The knitwear may be knitted tohave another knit structure, such as jacquard and rib, or may be knittedby using a four-bed flat knitting machine. This knitwear can be knittedby using a general flat knitting machine comprising a pair ofhorizontally extending front and back needle beds which are arranged toconfront each other in front and back and have a number of needlesthereon. At least one of the front and back needle beds is rackedlaterally so that stitch transfer can be performed therebetween. In theflat knitting machine used in the illustrated embodiment, the backneedle bed is racked relative to the front needle bed, and the needlesfor knitting a front knitted fabric and the needles for knitting a backknitted fabric are arranged in alternate position on the needle beds.The alternately arranged needles are used for knitting the front knittedfabric and the back knitted fabric, respectively, and empty needles arereserved for stitch transfer on the opposed needle beds. Thisarrangement enables the stitches on the needle bed to be shiftedlaterally in the process of knitting a tubular knitted fabric. On theother hand, when a four-bed flat knitting machine is used, the needleson the needle beds can all be used for knitting by using the needles onits upper needle bed, without any need to reserve the empty needles forstitch transfer between the alternately arranged knitting needles. Inthe following description, for better understanding of explanation, afewer number of needles used for the knitting than the actual number ofneedles is illustrated. The sweater 1 comprises a body 3, a right sleeve5 and a left sleeve 7. The body 3 and the right and left sleeves 5, 7are knitted into a tubular form. The body 3 comprises a front body 3 aand a back body 3 b; the right sleeve 5 comprises a right front sleeve 5a and a left back sleeve 5 b; and the left sleeve 7 comprises a leftfront sleeve 7 a and a left back sleeve 7 b. The right and left sleeves5, 7 are joined to the body 3 in the joining region extending fromunderarms of the body 3 to shoulders of the same. The front body 3 a andthe back body 3 b are joined to the body at the shoulders 9 a, 9 b andthen are bound off to prevent from loosening of stitches in a knownbind-off process. A neckline opening 11 is formed in the front body 3 a.From the start of formation of the neckline opening 11, the front body 3a is forked into a right side and a left side to confront each otheracross the neckline opening 11.

[0018] In the illustrated embodiment, the sleeves 5, 7 and the body 3are joined together in an alternating succession of the step 1 that eachtime when the front body 3 a and the back body 3 b are knitted in onecourse, the sleeves 5, 7 are shifted to and joined to the bodies 3 a, 3b and the step 2 that the sleeves 5, 7 and the bodies 3 a, 3 b are bothknitted to be joined together. The right sleeve 5 and the left sleeve 7shown in FIG. 1A include parts 12 a, 12 b formed in the step 2,respectively. In the illustrated embodiment, the knitting to jointogether the sleeves 5, 7 and the bodies 3 a, 3 b is repeated ten timesin a row in the step 1 and then the knitting to join together thesleeves 5, 7 and the bodies 3 a, 3 b is repeated twice in the step 2,whereby a sweater having a course number ratio of the sleeve to the bodyof 1:6 is knitted. In the illustrated embodiment, since the coursenumber ratio of the sleeve to the body is set to be 1:6, the sweater 1knitted comes to have a large sleeve attaching angle θ as shown in FIG.1A. Knitwear having a smaller sleeve-attaching angle θ may be knitted bychanging the course number ratio of sleeve to body. The higher thecourse number ratio of the body to the sleeve becomes, the larger thesleeve attaching angle θ becomes. On the other hand, the lower thecourse number ratio of the body to the sleeve becomes, the smaller thesleeve attaching angle θ becomes.

[0019] The tracks of yarn feeders and the knitting sequence of theknitting method of the illustrated embodiment are described withreference to FIGS. 2 and 3. While two yarn feeders are used in theillustrated embodiment, mote than two yarn feeders may be used forknitting. The line W-W of FIGS. 2 and 3 represents the boundary betweena front fabric comprising the front body 3 a, the right front sleeve 5 aand the left front sleeve 7 a and a back fabric comprising the back body3 b, the right back sleeve 5 b, and the left back sleeve 7 b. The body 3is knitted in each of the steps 1 and 2, and the sleeves 5 and 7 areknitted in the step 2 only. In the step 1, as shown in FIG. 2A, the yarnfeeder 13 is used to knit the front body 3 a, and the yarn feeder 15 isused to knit the back body 3 b. The yarn feeder 13 is turned back atboth ends of the front body 3 a to knit the front body 3 a in a flechageknitting. The yarn feeder 15 is turned back at both ends of the backbody 3 b to knit the back body 3 b in the flechage knitting. In the step2, as shown in FIG. 2B, the yarn feeder 13 is used to knit the frontbody 3 a and the left sleeve 7 in the shuttlewise knitting order of thefront body 3 a→the left front sleeve 7 a→the left back sleeve 7 b→theleft back sleeve 7 b→the left front sleeve 7 a→the front body 3 a, andthe yarn feeder 15 is used to knit the back body 3 b and the rightsleeve 5 in the shuttlewise order of the back body 3 b→the right backsleeve 5 b→the right front sleeve 5 a→the right front sleeve 5 a→theright back sleeve 5 b→the back body 3 b.

[0020] Now, the step 1 will be described, starting at the course 0 ofFIG. 4. The course 0 shows the state before the joining of the sleeves5, 7 to the body 3. In the course 0, the right front sleeve 5 a andright back sleeve 5 b, and the left front sleeve 7 a and left backsleeve 7 b are retained at both outsides of the front body 3 a and theback body 3 b. In the knitting before the course 0, the front body 3 aand the back body 3 b; the right front sleeve 5 a and the right backsleeve 5 b; and the left front sleeve 7 a and the left back sleeve 7 bare knitted into tubular bodies, respectively. After the start ofjoining of the sleeves 5, 7 and the bodies 3 a, 3 b, the front knittedfabric comprising the front body 3 a, the right front sleeve 5 a and theleft front sleeve 7 a and the back knitted fabric comprising the backbody 3 b, the right back body 5 b and the left back sleeve 7 b areknitted to be continuous to each other at each end thereof, so as to beknitted into a large tubular fabric.

[0021] In the course 1, the yarn feeder 13 is used for the front body 3a and the yarn feeder 15 is used for the back body 3 b, and the frontbody 3 a is knitted by a leading cam system and the back body 3 b isknitted by a trailing cam system. In the course 2, after the yarnfeeders 13, 15 are kicked back to the left side, the stitches of theright back sleeve 5 b are transferred to the front needle bed and thestitches of the front sleeve 7 a are transferred to the back needle bed.In the course 3, after the back needle bed is racked leftwards twopitches, the stitches of the right front sleeve 5 a and the right backsleeve 5 b are transferred to the back needle bed, and the stitches ofthe left front sleeve 7 a and the left back sleeve 7 b are transferredto the front needle bed. Then, the stitch 21 at the side end of theright back sleeve 5 b is laid over the stitch 23 of the back body 3 band the stitch 25 at the side end of the left front sleeve 7 a is laidover the stitch 27 of the front body 3 a. In the course 4, after theback needle bed is racked rightwards two pitches, the stitch 29 at theside end of the right front sleeve 5 a is laid over the stitch 31 of thefront body 3 a and the stitch 33 at the side end of the left frontsleeve 7 a is laid over the stitch 35 of the back body 3 b.

[0022] Then, in the course 5 of FIG. 5, after the yarn feeders 13, 15are kicked back to the right side, they are racked leftwards. Then, thefront body 3 a is knitted via the yarn feeder 13, and the back body 3 bis knitted via the yarn feeder 15. In the knitting from the course 2 ofFIG. 4 to the course 5 of FIG. 5, the stitches of the right front sleeve5 a and the left front sleeve 7 a are laid over the stitches of thefront body 3 a and also the stitches of the back sleeves are laid overthe stitches of the back body 3 b, whereby the sleeves and the body arejoined together. In the course 6, after the yarn feeders 13, 15 arekicked back to the right side, the back needle bed is racked rightwardstwo pitches. Then, the stitches of the right front sleeve 5 a and theright back sleeve 5 b are transferred to the front needle bed, and thestitches of the left front sleeve 7 a and the left back sleeve 7 b aretransferred to the back needle bed. Then, the stitch 37 at the side endof the right front sleeve 5 a is laid over the stitch 39 of the frontbody 3 a and the stitch 41 at the side end of the left back sleeve 7 bis laid over the stitch 43 of the back body 3 b. In the course 7, afterthe back needle bed is racked leftwards two pitches, the stitch 45 atthe side end of the right back sleeve 5 b is laid over the stitch 47 ofthe back body 3 b and the stitch 49 at the side end of the left frontsleeve 7 a is laid over the stitch 51 of the front body 3 a. In thecourse 8, after the yarn feeders 13, 15 are kicked back to the leftside, they are racked rightwards to knit the front body 3 a and the backbody 3 b. After the knitting mentioned above, the joining of twostitches of each of the right front sleeve 5 a, the right back sleeve 5b, the left front sleeve 7 a and the left back sleeve 7 b to the body iscompleted from the state of the course 0 of FIG. 4. When the knitting ofthe courses 2-5 of FIGS. 4-5 wherein the front body 3 a and the backbody 3 b are knitted to the right side to be joined together and theknitting of the courses 6-8 of FIG. 5 wherein the front body 3 a and theback body 3 b are knitted to the left side to be joined together aretaken as unit of repeated knitting operations, the unit of repeatedknitting operations is repeated five times to complete the knitting ofthe step 1.

[0023] Then, the step 2 will be described, starting at the point of timethe knitting of the step 1 up to the course 5 of FIG. 5 is completed. Inthe step 2, the sleeve and the body are both previously knitted andjoined together at one sleeve side, e.g. at the right sleeve 5 side, andthe other sleeve and the body are joined together at the left sleeve 7side without knitting the other sleeve 7, first. Then, after the frontbody 3 a and the back body 3 b are knitted, the other sleeve and thebody are both knitted and joined together at the left sleeve 7 side,while the one sleeve and the body are joined together, without knittingthe one sleeve 5. In the course 1 of FIG. 6, after the yarn feeders 13,15 are kicked back to the right side, the stitches of the right frontsleeve 5 a are transferred to the front needle bed. In the course 2,when the yarn is fed to the right back sleeve 5 b by the yarn feeder 15used for the knitting of the back body 3 b in the step 1, a split knitis provided by the needle retaining thereon the stitch 53 positioned atthe side end of the right back sleeve 5 b next to be laid over thestitch of the body. Then, the stitch 53 is transferred on to theopposite needle bed and also an additional stitch 55 is additionallyformed. The knitting is performed by other needles than that needle toform stitches of the next course in the right back sleeve 5 b. In thecourse 3, after the back needle bed is racked leftwards two pitches, thestitch 53 is laid over the stitch 57 of the back body 3 b. In the course4, after the yarn feeder 15 is reversed in direction at the left end ofthe right sleeve 5, the yarn is fed to the right front sleeve 5 a toform the stitches of the next course and also a split knit is providedfor the stitch 59 at the side end of the right front sleeve 5 a next tobe laid over the stitch of the front body 3 a. Then, the stitch 59 istransferred on to the back needle bed and also an additional stitch 61is formed. In the course 5, after the back needle bed is rackedrightwards two pitches, the stitch 59 is laid over the stitch 63 at theside end of the front body 3 a.

[0024] In the course 6 of FIG. 7, after the yarn feeder 15 is reversedin direction at the right end of the right front sleeve 3 a, the yarn isfed to the right front sleeve 5 a again. At this point of time, theneedle retaining thereon the stitch 61 for which the split knit wasprovided in the course 4 is missed. The yarn is fed to the other needlesthan that needle to form the stitches of the next course in the rightfront sleeve 5 a. In the course 7, as is the case with the course 6, theneedle retaining thereon the stitch 55 for which the split knit wasprovided in the course 2 is missed, and the stitches of the next courseare formed on the other stitches of the right back sleeve 5 b than thatstitch 55. In the course 8, after the back needle bed is rackedrightwards two pitches, the stitches of the left front sleeve 7 a andthe left back sleeve 7 b are transferred to the back needle bed, and thestitch 65 at the side end of the left back sleeve 7 b are laid over thestitch 67 of the back body 3 b. In the course 9, after the back needlebed is racked leftwards two pitches, the stitches of the left frontsleeve 7 a are transferred to the front needle bed, and the stitch 69 atthe side end of the left front sleeve 7 a is laid over the stitch 71 ofthe front body 3 a. In the course 10, the yarn feeders 13, 15 are kickedback to the left side, they are racked rightwards. Then, the front body3 a and the back body 3 b are knitted via the yarn feeder 13 and theyarn feeder 15, respectively, and also the stitches of the right backsleeve 5 b are transferred to the front needle bed.

[0025] In the course 11 of FIG. 8, the yarn feeders 13, 15 are kickedback to the left side. Then, when the yarn is fed to the left frontsleeve 7 a by the yarn feeder 13, a split knit is provided by the needleretaining thereon the stitch 71 of the left front sleeve 7 a next to belaid over the stitch of the body and an additional stitch 73 is formed.The knitting is performed by other needles than that needle to formstitches of the next course in the left front sleeve 7 a. In the course12, after the back needle bed is racked leftwards two pitches, thestitch 71 is laid over the stitch 75 of the front body. In the course13, after the back needle bed is racked rightwards two pitches, the yarnfeeder 13 is reversed in direction, to form the stitches of the nextcourse in the left back sleeve 7 b and also a split knit is provided forthe stitch 77 at the side end and an additional stitch 79 is formed. Inthe course 14, after the back needle bed is racked rightwards twopitches, the stitch 77 is laid over the stitch 81 of the front body 3 a.In the subsequent course 15, after the back needle bed is rackedleftwards two pitches, the yarn feeder 13 is reversed in direction atthe left end of the left sleeve 7, to form the stitches of the nextcourse in the left back sleeve 7 b, except the stitch 79 for which thesplit knit was provided in the course 13.

[0026] In the course 16 of FIG. 9, the needle retaining thereon theadditional stitch 73 additionally formed in the course 11 is missed, andthe stitches of the next course are formed on the other stitches of theleft front sleeve 7 a than that stitch. In the course 17, the stitchesof the left back sleeve 7 b are transferred to the front needle bed. Inthe course 18, after the back needle bed is racked leftwards twopitches, the stitches of the right front sleeve 5 a and the right backsleeve 5 b are transferred to the back needle bed, and the stitch 81 atthe side end of the left back sleeve 7 b is laid over the stitch 83 ofthe back body 3 b. In the course 19, after the back needle bed is rackedrightwards four pitches, the stitch 85 at the side end of the rightfront sleeve 5 a is laid over the stitch 87 of the front body 3 a. Inthe course 20, after the yarn feeders 13, 15 are kicked back to theright side and racked leftwards, the stitches of the next course areformed in the front body 3 a and the back body 3 b. In the step 2, theknitting of the courses 2-20 of FIGS. 6-9 taken as the unit of repeatedknitting operations is repeatedly performed. In the illustratedembodiment, the knitting is not repeated but is returned to the knittingof the step 1 from the course 6 of FIG. 5, in order to reduce the coursenumber ratio of the sleeve. In the subsequent knitting, the stitches 55,61, 73 and 79 formed by the split knit are laid over the stitches of thefront and back bodies 3 a, 3 b. Subsequently, the knitting operations ofthe step 1 and the knitting operations of the step 2 are alternatelyperformed to join together the sleeves and the body. In the area wherethe neckline opening 11 is formed, a yarn feeder used for the left sideof the neckline opening 11 is added so that the two parts of theknitwear at the right and left sides of the neckline opening 11 can beknitted by the different yarn feeders, respectively. After the joiningof the sleeves 5, 7 and the body 3 is completed in the knitting methodmentioned above, the front body 3 a and the back body 3 b are joinedtogether at their shoulder portions 9 a, 9 b to complete the sweater 1.

[0027] The loop diagram at the joining part of the left front sleeve 7 aand the front body 3 a of the sweater 1 knitted in the knitting methodmentioned above is shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 10, the stitches formed inthe knitting of the step 2 are represented by a bold line. In thesweater 1, the sleeves and the body are joined together by the stitchesof the last course of the left front sleeve 7 a being laid over thestitches at the end of the front body 3 a. In the embodiment of thepresent invention, since the knitting of the front body 3 a and theknitting of the back body 3 b are concurrently performed and the joiningof the front sleeves 5 a, 7 a and the front body 3 a and the joining ofthe back sleeves 5 b, 7 b and the back body 3 b are concurrentlyperformed by using a plurality of yarn feeders, the sleeves and the bodycan be joined together without any difference in knitting width betweenthe front knitted fabric and the back knitted fabric that may cause yarnrupture or stretched stitch. In addition, in the embodiment of thepresent invention, the split knit is provided for the stitch 71 at theside end in the sleeve knitting course, to form the additional stitch 73and then the stitches 71 and 73 are joined to the stitches 75 and 89 inthe different courses of the front body 3 a. The stitch 73 formed by thesplit knit is formed in a smaller stitch form than the usual one, suchthat it draws in surrounding stitches 91, 93, and as such can allow thesleeves and the body to be joined together closely without leaving anyundesirable space therebetween, thus producing a good-looking joiningline.

[0028] While in the embodiment of the present invention, the body isoverlapped with the sleeves whenever the body is knitted in one course,the body may be overlapped with the sleeves whenever the body is knittedin two courses or more. Also, such modification may be made that thefront body 3 a and the right and the left sleeves 5, 7 may be knitted bythe same yarn feeder, while only the back body 3 b may be knitted byanother yarn feeder, as shown in FIG. 11A. Alternatively, the front body3 a, the back body 3 b, the right sleeve 5 and the left sleeve 7 may beknitted by their respective yarn feeders, as shown in FIG. 11B. Althoughthe knitting method has been described above, taking the sweater as oneexample of the knitwear, the present invention is applicable to theknitting of cardigan or other knitwear. Further, the course number ratioof the sleeve to the body may be changed within the joining region ofthe sleeves and the body.

CAPABILITIES OF EXPLOITATION IN INDUSTRY

[0029] As evidence from the foregoing, according to the presentinvention, the knitwear having a good-looking joining line along whichthe sleeves and the body are joined together can be knitted at anyselective sleeve attaching angle. Also, since the course for only thebody to be knitted to join together the sleeves and the body isincreased in course number as compared with the course for both thesleeves and the body to be knitted to join together the sleeves and thebody, the knitwear having the sleeves which are joined to the body atnearly right angle can be knitted without using any special yarn such asan elastic yarn.

1. A method of knitting knitwear, comprising a body knitted into atubular fabric whose front body and back body are overlapped with eachother in front and back; and right and left sleeves situated at eachside of the body and each formed into a tubular fabric whose frontsleeve and back sleeve are overlapped with each other in front and back,by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of first andsecond needle beds each having a number of needles, which are placedopposite in front and back and at least either of which can be rackedlaterally; yarn feeders for feeding yarn to the needles of the firstneedle bed and second needle bed; and a cam unit, the method comprisingthe joining knit step that whenever a predetermined number of courses ofthe body is knitted in a joining region extending from an underarm to ashoulder, the sleeves are shifted to the body to allow the stitches ofthe last course of the sleeves to be laid over the stitches of the body,so as to join together the sleeves and the body, the joining knit stepcomprising: a) the step that whenever an adequate number of courses ofthe front body and the back body are knitted by using different yarnfeeders, the right and left sleeves are shifted to the body side andjoined together; and b) the step that when the front body and the backbody are knitted by the different feed yarns, respectively, and the yarnis fed to either of the right and left sleeves to form stitches in thenext course, split knit is provided for stitches of the front sleevesand back sleeves at side ends thereof on the body side and then each ofthe split stitches are laid over the stitches of the different coursesin the bodies to join together the sleeves and the body.
 2. The methodof knitting knitwear according to claim 1, wherein a course number ratioof the sleeve to the body after the start of the joining knit of thesleeve and the body is set so that a course number ratio of the body canbe higher than 1:4.